Five Finger Friday: Medium, Muted Greens

Hello Lab Partner!

Welcome to another 5FF. In previous posts, I've covered mint greens and gold-greens, so it seems like a good time for us to take a look at medium, muted greens (think army greens, olive greens)--popular colors this fall! I had a hard time narrowing down which five I wanted to feature, but I finally selected OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window, Zoya Yara, Essie Sew Psyched, RGB Camp, and Nicole by OPI Green up Your Act:

Thumb: Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window; pointer: Green up Your Act; Middle: Camp;  Ring: Sew Psyched; Pinkie: Yara. Outside, natural light.

The above photo captures the colors pretty accurately, although they appear slightly darker than they actually are, particularly Yara. Below is another photo that shows the colors quite accurately, although the thumb is a bit blurry at that angle, and it's difficult to see the gold micro-glitter in Yara (you'll find a close-up of Yara further down):

On the thumb: OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window. This polish applies well, with a bit of streakiness on the first coat. It's a cream that is opaque and streak-free in two coats. It has quite a bit of yellow undertone.

On the pointer finger: Nicole by OPI Green up Your Act. This polish and Yara are the darkest of the five. It has quite a bit of blue to it, although it appears even bluer in the bottle. It applies very smoothly and is nearly opaque in one coat. It's shown here with two coats.


On the middle finger: RGB Camp. I have to say, I'm disappointed. I usually adore RGB polishes--they're some of my favorites--but this one applies a little streaky, with visible brush strokes. This one has grey undertones.

On the ring finger: Essie Sew Psyched. This is the polish I used for the most recent Mystery Mani Monday, so check that post if you'd like to see this polish on all five fingers. The color of Sew Psyched is very similar to RGB Camp, with strong grey undertones, but Sew Psyched is a littler darker. This polish applies beautifully. It was opaque in one coat, but I applied a second for good measure.

Zoya Yara

On the pinkie: Zoya Yara. Like Uh-Oh, Yara has some yellow to it, but not as much as Uh-Oh. It applies beautifully and is opaque in two coats. It's a metallic (but a subtle one) with gold micro-glitter. This is the one polish out of the five that I can't really capture as well as I'd like in natural light, so I took a close up of it under artificial light so you can see the micro-glitter.

Thumb: Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window. Pinkie: Zoya Yara. Blurred to show glitter.

 


Here's another photo of Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window--you can really see its yellow undertone here--along with Yara (blurred to show the golden micro-glitter of Yara).


Of the five, Zoya Yara is my favorite, no question. I adore it! I was surprised by just how much I like it--why have I waited till now to try it?

So which of these medium, muted greens do you prefer?

Sending you lab love,

Allison

Benchwork: Stila Glitter Polishes

Hello Lab Partners!

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago, I announced on our FB page that Stila Cosmetics recently launched nail polishes. Here are the details: the polishes come in two prepackaged collections, each containing four polishes. One collection is called Delicate, the other Daring. Today, I'm showing you some quick swatches of the four polishes from the Daring collection:

• Confetti - clear base with green, red and gold glitter
• Firecracker - clear base with ruby red sparkle
• Disco Ball - clear base with purple and teal glitter
• City Lights - gold with rainbow multi-color glitter

From L to R: City Lights, Disco Ball, Firecracker, Confetti. Two coats. Indoors, artificial light

I had expected Confetti to be my least favorite, but I think I actually like it best! The glitter particles tended to be suspended more evenly in the base, causing them to apply more evenly. I like all four of these glitters, however.

From Top to Bottom: City Lights, Disco Ball, Firecracker, Confetti. Three coats. Inside, artificial light.

Stila classifies these glitters as "micro-glitters." To me, they're slightly large to qualify as micro-glitter. They're by no means chunky, but when I think of micro-glitter, I think of something along the lines of Butter London Frilly Knickers (my favorite micro-glitter). I'm not complaining; I actually like that these glitter particles are a bit larger than I'd expected, and again, they are small, just not as small as I'd expected.

The individual bottles are tiny--only .25 fl. oz. each. Each set costs $24, which is on the pricey side for small bottles, but that's not surprising as Stila products aren't known for being inexpensive. All in all, I think this set or its sister, the Delicate set, makes a nice addition to any glitter-lover's collection and would make an excellent holiday gift.

What do you think of these new glitters from Stila? Which one is your favorite?

Until next time, sending you lab love!

Allison

Mystery Mani Monday: A Muted Medium Green

Happy Monday, Lab Partners!

You know what today is, don't you?! No, I mean besides Halloween! It's time for another Mystery Mani Monday! Today, I'm wearing a muted medium green with grey undertones. It's a great autumn color, and that's fine by me because I'm really excited about cooler weather heading my way! I love to get creative in the fall by making handmade garments. Browsing through craft stores is so fun--I love seeing all the different fabrics, buttons, threads, and and yarns. Is anyone else really pumped for fall?

Here's the way this works: you have until tonight at 9pm Pacific time (midnight Eastern) to submit your guess. There are some subtle clues contained in this post to help you. Each person who guesses correctly receives one extra entry in our current giveaway. If the name under which you submit your guess differs from your GFC name, please list your GFC in your comment with your guess. 

Now, with no further ado, here's today's Mystery Mani:

Outside, natural light

Inside, artificial light

 Now bring on the guesses!

11 Week Challenge: Week 2 Mani

Hello Lab Partners!

As you may recall, we're participating in an 11-week mani challenge, and this week's challenge is to create a mani inspired by an upcoming holiday. The obvious choice would be a Halloween-themed mani . . . but alas, I'm just not into Halloween (please refrain from throwing virtual candy corn at me). Why am I not into Halloween? My theory is I got sick of having my November 3 birthday celebrated with witch cakes and black and orange streamers. Incidentally, my friend Ace's birthday is tomorrow, Novemeber 1, and she's not a Halloween fan, either. You see? I think there's something to this birthday theory!

So if not a Halloween-inspired mani, then what? Well, I searched for silly, bizarre holidays and found that November 2 is "Look for Circles Day." Sounded like a great excuse to break out my dotting tools and do a twist on an "eyeball" mani! Oh, I did use black and orange, as my obligatory nod to Halloween:

Outside, natural light. Alright, so some of my circles are more like amorphous blobs . . . I prefer to think of them as circles with lots of character.

Outside, natural light

The base color is Color Club Wham!Pow! from the Poptastic collection. For the circles, I used Kiss Nail Art Paints.

Icky iphone pic, but I was wearing an orange top, so I couldn't resist!

It's not too late to join in the 11-week challenge! Join at any time, and feel free to post your challenge mani pics on our FB page.



Until next time, sending you lab love!

Allison